Psalm 101

Introduction

The title of today’s psalm tells us that this is a psalm of David. The commentators suggest that this psalm may have been written for his coronation or for some kind of festival when he renewed his commitment to the Lord. And the reason they think that is because the psalm is a list of resolutions. In every verse, David resolves to do this and to do that. Resolved: I will sing of your love and justice. Resolved: I will be careful to lead a blameless life. Resolved: I will walk in my house with blameless heart. Resolved: I will set before my eyes no vile thing. Resolved: To hate the deeds of faithless men. And so on. The psalm is about God’s king and his commitment to doing what’s right. And as we’ll see, it’s also about his commitment to build the City of God on earth.

Verse 1

In verse 1, the king resolves to praise the Lord. He says that he will sing of God’s love and justice.

The Hebrew word translated ‘love’ is hesed, which is God’s covenant love for his people. It’s his steadfast love or his never-ending love for his people. And when he says that he will sing about it, he means he will sing about the times when God has demonstrated his steadfast love. He will sing about the acts of love which God has performed on behalf of his people.

And the same goes for God’s justice: he will sing about the acts of justice which God has performed on behalf of his people. And so, he will sing about those times when, for instance, God acted to punish the wicked for their wickedness; and when he vindicated his people who walk in his ways. Think of the times when God rescued David from the hand of Saul who wanted to kill him for no good reason. By rescuing him, the Lord displayed both his love and justice to David. And now David resolves to praise God for it.

Verse 2

In verse 2 he resolves to walk blamelessly. And so, he says that he will be careful to lead a blameless life and he will walk in his house with blameless heart.

When he says he will be careful to lead a blameless life, he’s perhaps thinking of his public life, when he’s out and about among the people, performing his duties as king. However, he won’t be one of those people who is one thing in public and another thing in private so that his family see a different side of him to everyone else. No, he resolves to walk blamelessly at home as well.

By referring to a blameless life, he’s not saying he will live a perfect life. The king is a sinner like everyone else. But he means that he aims to live a life that is above reproach. He aims to live in such a way that he can’t be accused of anything scandalous. He resolves to be a man of integrity, doing what’s right when he’s out in the public eye and when he’s at home behind closed doors. And by referring to a blameless heart, he means that he will set his heart — his thoughts and affections and desires — on what is good and upright.

And in the middle of verse 2, he appeals to the Lord to come and help him. Knowing his own weakness, he knows he needs the Lord’s help to do what’s right and to shun all that is evil.

Verse 3

In verse 3 he resolves to set before his eyes no vile thing.

The Hebrew word translated ‘vile’ was used to describe Eli’s sons. Remember Eli, the priest, in the story of Samuel? And his two sons were worthless men who had no regard for the Lord. They used to help themselves to the offerings for the Lord; and they used to bully the people. And so, when David says that he will not before his eyes no vile thing, he means he will not set before his eyes vile and worthless people like Eli’s sons who have no regard for the Lord. He does not want them in his presence. As he goes on say, he hates the deeds of faithless men and they will not cling to him. Faithless men are men who have turned away from the Lord. They know the Lord and they know their duty to the Lord. But instead of walking in his ways, they have turned away from him. And David hates what they do. And he will not cling to such people, but will send them out of his presence. He will separate himself from them.

Verse 4

In verse 4 he resolves that men of perverse heart shall be far from him and he will have nothing to do with evil.

A perverse heart is a twisted heart. It’s the heart of a person who loves and desires things which are contrary to God’s will. Instead of ordering their thoughts and desires according to God’s word, their thoughts and desires are disordered. They are evil. And David will have nothing to do with such people.

Verse 5

In verse 5 he resolves to silence anyone who slanders his neighbours in secret. This person may say one thing about his neighbour in public, but he says something else entirely in private. She’s kind to your face, but behind your back, she’s slandering you to other people.

The king resolves not to put up with that kind of thing, and to silence such talk. And so, when people begin to slander another person in his presence, he will stop them. In fact, the Hebrew word is stronger, because in Hebrew David resolves not just to silence such people, but to destroy them.

And he will not endure anyone who has haughty eyes and a proud heart. He will not put up with boasters. He will not put up with the proud and arrogant. Whoever looks down on other people will find themselves cast out of his presence.

Verse 6

By contrast, the king resolves in verse 6 to favour the faithful.

So, his eyes will be on the faithful in the land that they may dwell with him. He means he will look on them with his favour. He will look after them and care for them. And, of course, he’s referring to those who are faithful to the Lord. He will care for God’s faithful people.

And the one who walks blamelessly will minister to him. He means he will choose such people to serve him in his royal palace. Instead of surrounding himself with proud people who slander one another, he will surround himself with godly people who seek to do what’s right in the eyes of the Lord.

Verse 7

In verse 7, David resolves not to tolerate deceivers. So, they will not dwell in his house and they will not stand in his presence. He wants them out of his sight.

He’s referring here to those who practice deceit and who speak falsely. So, he means liars. Who wants to be friends with a liar who cannot be trusted to tell the truth? And, of course, we’re coming up to an election and what we want to know is whether or not the candidates can be trusted. When they tell us what they will do, do they mean what they say or is it just words? David doesn’t want liars around him. He wants to be surrounded by people he can trust.

Verse 8

And in verse 8 David resolves to destroy the wicked from the land. He says that every morning he will put to silence all the wicked in the land. Once again, the Hebrew word is stronger than silence. He means he will destroy them. And since he says ‘Every morning’, then he means he will do this again and again and again. He won’t just do it once, but every morning he will do what he can to root out evil from the land. He will cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord. His aim, therefore, is to create a city which is full of godly, faithful, humble and obedient people who love the Lord and who love to do what’s good and right and pleasing in his sight. He wants to create the City of God.

Conclusion

Of course, David was doomed to failure, wasn’t he? He was doomed to failure because David lived in a fallen world which is full of fallen people who are naturally inclined to do evil unless God restrains our natural inclination or changes us by his Spirit. And even when God changes us by his Spirit, our natural corruption remains in us in part so that we continue to do wrong.

And David is a prime example of this, because there was that time when David took Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, and committed adultery with her; and then he took Uriah’s life by arranging for him to be killed on the battlefield. David wanted to create the City of God on earth. He wanted to create a city which was full of godly, faithful, humble and obedient people who love the Lord and who love to do what’s good and right and pleasing in his sight. And yet, he himself was a sinner.

And every city and town and village and home is the same. In this life we must put up with evil and with sin. We must endure it. We must suffer it. We must bear with it patiently. We must accept with sorrow that our leaders will always let us down; and the citizens of every nation and the people of every city will continue to do what’s wrong. And we must accept with sorrow that even the church is full of sinners who know what’s right, but who do and say and think what’s wrong. And while God is at work in the world to restrain wickedness, and while God is at work in his people to change us by his Spirit, and while the kingdom of God acts like leaven in the world to influence all things for good, nevertheless sin will always exist in this fallen world, so that this world will never be what it was supposed to be.

But we look forward to the day when Christ our King will take his people out of this fallen world and when he will bring us into the new and better world where God’s people will live together as citizens of the true City of God, the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, which is the church in glory. And it will be a perfect place, because nothing impure will enter it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and who have been washed and cleansed and purified by Jesus Christ, who gave up his life to pay for our sins and who shed his blood to cleanse us. And all who are united to him by faith will be brought into that city to be with the Lord for ever and for ever.

And while we wait for that day, we should confess our sins to the Lord and ask him to forgive us for the sake of Christ. And we should ask him to renew us by his Spirit so that our life here on earth will become more and more what is should be; and we’ll live here on earth as citizens of the City of God to come.